


Are You There, Death? It's Me, Arya

by SwagginOnADragon (verhalen)



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Drinking, Gen, Killing, Menstruation, Parent Sandor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-30
Updated: 2017-08-30
Packaged: 2018-12-21 20:47:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11952333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/verhalen/pseuds/SwagginOnADragon
Summary: While traveling with The Hound, Arya gets her period for the first time.





	Are You There, Death? It's Me, Arya

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own it, I don't make any money from it. Just a fan, enjoying myself. Cheers!

"Something wrong with your leg, boy?"

Polliver looks up at her with terror in his eyes. "What, what do you mean?"

"Can you walk?" Arya pauses. "...I've got to carry you?"

"Carry me?"

Arya looks at Needle, and then at Polliver. "Fine little blade. I think I'll pick my teeth with it."

And at last, the look of recognition in his eyes. The look of doom, just as Arya runs him through the neck.

_

The Hound has some leftover chicken from the inn. They sit by the fire, and he hands her a large piece. "To celebrate," he says.

Arya snorts, and he sneers.

"Nothing feels better than killing," The Hound says. "You're learning that." He mutters, "You're learning something."

Arya bites off a large piece of chicken and chews it thoughtfully. She is surprised by how good killing Polliver felt. How _satisfying_ it was to deliver justice to the evil man.

She whispers her list as she prepares for sleep. The list is a prayer of sorts; Syrio Forel told her there is only one god, and his name is Death. The Seven got her family killed; Death will help her avenge them.

And as much as she dislikes it, Death sent her this big, horrible man to teach her its ways.

_

Arya wakes up in the middle of the night with a start, feeling like she's been stabbed. She goes off to take a piss, and there's blood like she's been stabbed too, but no stab wounds.

She's panicking. She comes back to camp, crying. Trying not to cry, but crying just the same. It wakes up The Hound.

"What are you whinging about?" he snarls. "Fucking woke me up."

"Nothing," Arya cries.

"It's not fucking _nothing_ if you're crying. Out with it, girl."

Arya swallows hard. "I'm bleeding. It hurts..."

"What?" The Hound sits up. Were they attacked and he slept through it? "Where?"

"Down... down there." She breaks down and sobs.

It registers, and The Hound makes a noise of disgust. "Ah, shit."

"I don't know what's -"

Another growl of annoyance. "It means you're a woman now."

"What?"

The Hound cocks his head to one side. "Your mother never taught you about this? Your sister?" And he realizes she was young enough when she was separated from her family that of course not. He sighs.

"I don't understand," she says.

"Once a month, your body's gonna bleed like this." Now he's very glad that he kept Arya from being raped at the inn; the thought of her being with a rapist's child, and so young, fills him with murderous ire. "It means you can have children now."

Arya gives him a look, suggesting that's the last thing she wants. He gives her the same look back, letting her know he has no intention of touching her or letting anyone else touch her.

Then he reaches into his bag, and pulls out a few clean rags. "To put down your pants so you don't ruin your clothes," he tells her.

She takes one of the rags and goes off to adjust her clothing, and when she comes back, The Hound is drinking from his flask. He hands it to her. "It'll help with the pain," he says.

She takes a sip, and then she takes a large nip, and she says, "How do you know about all this stuff?"

A surprisingly sad look on the big, tough warrior's face. "I had a sister." A little sigh. "She looked a lot like you."

"What happened to her?"

Grit teeth. "My brother happened to her." A growl. He gestures to the burned half of his face. "I was the lucky one."

Arya wants to say "I'm sorry" but she doesn't want to appear weak, or, just as bad, get some smart remark from him. So she says nothing. Just stares into the fire.

"Go to sleep," he tells her. "Sleep's good for pain."

Whispering the list. The blood doesn't just mean she's a woman now. It's a sign, a response to the offering she made of Polliver. She is an instrument of Death. This comforts her, a cold comfort, but comfort nonetheless.

She dreams of her mother, tossing and turning, and cries out for her mother in the night. It wakes up The Hound again. He sees that she's squirmed around enough that her blankets have come off, and he reaches over to cover her back up. Takes a look at her with just her face poking out of the covers. Thinks of his raped, murdered sister, one of the few people to ever show him kindness in this world.

He'll kill for Arya, but even better, he'll teach her to be a killer just like him, so the Mountains of this shit world can't do to her what was done to his sister. 

And she's already on her way there.


End file.
